Top 10 differences between the Gothams of Nolan and Burton

Amazingly, Bruce Wayne has donned his Batsuit for the seventh time in a little over 20 years. The role of Batman has become a nouveau-James Bond of sorts, with a grand total of 4 actors portraying him thus far, in films directed by three different men. When the original BATMAN came out in 1989, comic book and superhero films were far from guaranteed successes, since effects and makeup hadn’t quite risen to the standards of what the deliriously imaginative comic creators could come up with. Nevertheless, Tim Burton‘s BATMAN was a commercial and (mostly) critical success, enough to ensure delivery of the arguably better sequel BATMAN RETURNS three years later. Fast-forward (remember that?) to 2005, and MEMENTO director Christopher Nolan resuscitated the franchise with the much darker — and more realistic — BATMAN BEGINS, which in turn was also followed by a superior sequel, THE DARK KNIGHT. Pretty much across the board, the newer Batman films are considered to be the most relevant and successful, but there remains a small and embattled contingent of film fans who actively miss the old days of (pre-SLEEPY HOLLOW) Tim Burton.

Of course, comparing the Batman universes of Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan is like editorializing on apples and oranges, but an interesting way to explore these drastically different approaches to the same hallmark of Americana is through the directors’ treatment of the Dark Knight’s beloved Gotham City. A checklist:

10. Product Tie-ins: Coca Cola vs. Mountain Dew

Photo credit: World News
It’s a sign of the times and how things have evolved since 1992, when McDonald’s discontinued a Happy Meals tie-in for BATMAN RETURNS as a result of angry parents protesting the film’s violent and sexual content. To their chagrin, however, the Coca-Cola Company went ahead with its promotional run for the film. Today, we are presented with a Mountain Dew tie-in for the new DARK KNIGHT RISES, and the fairly lame tagline “Rule the Streets with Dew.” Surely, parents have moved on to far bigger fish to fry in the quest to protect their children from inappropriate content, or more likely, what was once considered inappropriate is now just fine.